Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

The legend of Mariah’s Storm lives on

Mariah’s Storm by Rahy out of the Roberto mare Immense was foaled in 1991. Named after the song “They Call the Wind Mariah” by her owners Bill and Margie Peters of Des Moines, Iowa, she was trained by Don Von Hemel.
A very promising two-year-old, the bay filly was being aimed at the 1993 Breeders Cup. She won a Grade 2 at Arlington but then broke down in
the Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland, fracturing her near fore cannon. Bill Peters was quoted as saying that “You could hear it pop all over the track.”
With such promise, the disappointment was great. But the story had hardly begun.
Owners and trainer refused to give up hope and managed to prevent the filly from being put down. Surgery and care from a team of expert veterinarians ensured her survival although she had to stay in her Keeneland racecourse stall for a month after the race meeting had ended.
For a long time, her condition was uncertain but it was eventually clear that her life had been saved. Back at the Von Hemel training barns at Oaklawn, Arkansas, Mariah’s Storm slowly recovered and under the care of Robin Von Hemel, the fracture healed strongly.
With great trepidation, the question was asked: “Could she race again?”
Against all odds, the filly was returned to training about a year later. “The first time we breezed her, my heart was pounding pretty hard” said Don Von Hemel “and when she jumped a shadow it just about stopped.”
Mariah’s Storm returned to win the Arlington Oaks and Arlington Matron Stakes. No other horse had won all three stakes races on the Arlington track and they duly named a race after Mariah’s Storm.
She developed a huge fan base and was cheered on by great crowds, even as she raced at different tracks around the country. At her home track Prairie Meadows, hundreds would come just to watch her races on the screens.
At four-years-old, Mariah’s Storm went to Turfway Park and came up against future Hall of Fame filly Serena’s Song who won nine of eleven stakes races that year including three against colts.
But on this occasion, the great Serena’s Song had the misfortune to come up against the determined and large hearted Mariah’s Storm who beat her by five lengths in the Turfway Breeders Cup Stakes.
She did make it to the Breeders Cup itself but the night before the Distaff, the filly was sick and with the benefit of hindsight should have been scratched. She ran but finished down the field, then ended her career by winning the Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs.
Since not only a life threatening but normally a life ending accident, Mariah’s Storm had completed what her owners described as her incredible journey. She won ten of sixteen races and was a finalist in the Eclipse Awards for 1995’s champion older filly or mare. The story of this brave filly captured the imagination of film director John Gatins who was inspired to make the family movie ‘Dreamer’ starring Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning.
The equine star is a filly named Sonya who breaks down on the track and is nursed back to health by a young girl, going on to win the Breeders Cup Classic.
And of course the story of Mariah’s Storm did not end there. She was mated with Storm Cat in 1996 and sold to John Magnier’s Coolmore team for $2,6 million. This was a bargain. The first foal was Giant’s Causeway, one of the great post war racehorses and a sire of 15 Group/Grade 1 winners. Four more group winners followed and a fifth, Group placed. No less than five sons of Mariah’s Storm stand as stallions. In South Africa, through Tiger Dance, a piece of the Mariah’s Storm legend lives on. Tiger Dance, full brother to Giant’s Causeway, stands in the Western Cape at Lion River Stud, Tulbagh and has some greatly admired yearlings and foals on the ground with testimonials to their quality gratefully received and published. Lion River will put directly into training a considerable number of Tiger Dances and a number of attractive examples will appear at the sales. For further information please contact Allan Bloodlines davidallan@allanbloodlines.com
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